


Duro's Son

by o_rcrist



Series: Tumblr Prompt [1]
Category: Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-23
Updated: 2012-04-23
Packaged: 2017-11-04 05:03:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/390040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/o_rcrist/pseuds/o_rcrist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Duro's love was captured by the Romans years before he was. Now her villa is freed by the Rebels, where Agron finds her and her son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Duro's Son

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration for this came from the scene in the bathhouse between Spartacus and Duro in "Old Wounds".

The villa was quiet. Most within it had fallen to sleep hours before, but Ada had not. She would not waste the precious time she spent with her son. Once a week he was allowed to spend the night in her quarters, and she would tell him stories of her home in the lands east of the Rhine, or sing him lullabies when he refused to sleep. He had just fallen asleep in her arms, when she heard men yelling and the clash of swords. She pushed her son under her small bed. "Stay hidden and make no noise. I will come find you when it is safe" she told him, and then she was gone. Ada ran towards the noise, ready to fight whoever had intruded into the villa. She quickly came upon her Dominus's guards, who were fighting  _gladiators._ While she did not know them, she could easily recognize the men's fighting style. She watched as the gladiators cut through the guards in a matter of minutes. They ignored her and the other slaves for now, and she saw some of them depart for the ludus below, to free the men. While studying the men, she recognized a face, older and more worn than the last time she had seen it, but the grin was still the same.

"Agron?" she asked. The man turned and looked at her.

"Ada?" She ran towards him, and Agron caught her in one of his bear hugs, one that she had not felt for years.

"It is you. How did you come here?" she asked.

"We're here with Spartacus" he simply said.

"Spartacus! Then the gods have answered my prayers" she laughed. She noticed a smaller man, next to him, dark of skin and with long hair, who did not seem to like the embrace between the two.

Agron noticed and quickly said, "Ada this is Nasir. Nasir, Ada, one of me and Duro's childhood friends." The man's face quickly softened at that and he smiled at Ada. Suddenly she heard a small cry and she turned around. One of Spartacus's men had pushed her son into the room.

"Leave him be! He has done nothing to you!" she angrily yelled. She stormed up to the men and snatched him away from their swords. The men backed away from her quickly. Agron approached Ada and was staring intently at the boy in her arms.

"Why do you protect him so?" he asked inquisitively.

"Because he is my son."

"Son? He is the son of a Roman?"

Ada glared at him. "I would rather die by the sword I wield than lay with a filthy Roman." Her son turned in her arms to stare at Agron, and Ada saw the look in Agrons eyes. He had seen those eyes before.

"His eyes," Agron stuttered, "they are the same as Duros."

"Aye, they are. Passed down from father, to son."

Agron could only stare at Ada and her son, he mouth hanging open, but no words forming. "Duro is his father? How -?" before he could finish his question a man called them to attention. Spartacus Ada assumed. She listened as he made speech, but her eyes were on Agron. She saw pain and grief in his eyes, and she wondered at it. Soon they were on the move from the ludus, travelling towards Vesuvius. She had a small satchel of belongings on her back, and carried the boy in her arms. Agron walked beside her, with Nasir next to him. They walked in silence for some time, until Agron broke the silence. "What is the boys name," he asked quietly.

Ada gave him a small smile. "I gave him the only one he was worthy of, the name of his father. Duro."

Agron smiled at that. "Duro," he repeated. "He has much of Duro in him, from his looks alone."

Ada laughed at the remark. "When he is awake, he resembles his father even more. Always in trouble." Agron laughed at that. Ada stumbled over a loose rock, and Agron quickly lent a hand to so she could regain her balance. She nodded in thanks, and allowed Agron to gently take Duro from her arms and into his. Duro smiled in his sleep and snuggled closer to the gladiator's broad chest. All three of them smiled at the boy, and continued to walk.

The next morning, they were all at the temple resting. Duro had slept through the night in Agron's arms and was now running around, exploring his new home. "Stay out of the mens way Duro!' scolded Ada from her seat next to the wall. Agron and Nasir sat in front of her, while she told her tale.

"It happened the day you found us out in the clearing Agron. If you had arrived any earlier you would have caught us in the act." Ada remembered. "Duro had promised to speak to my father soon, gain his approval to marry me. We were out in the clearing again three days later, practicing with our swords, when the Romans found us. We attempted to run towards the village, but we were separated. I still had my sword with me, so I fought most of them off, until one disarmed me. Before I could fight back, chains were around my wrists and ankles and they ordered me to march. I fought against them, until my wrists were raw and bloodied but they never stopped. They took me to port, and put me on a prisoner ship.

When we arrived in Neapolis, the Romans found it amusing that a girl could wield a sword, and the Dominus of the ludus thought it would be entertaining to the crowd to have a female gladiator. I was taken to the villa, and that it when I began to notice. My stomach slowly bulging, eating more, tiring easily. When it became known to the Dominus that I was with child, he attempted to have me still the life inside of me. I refused and instead stuck a bargain. I would train as a gladiator, and my winnings would keep my child fed and clothed until he could serve the Dominus. I brought him into this world, and within a week we were separated. I began training as a gladiator, and he spent the day with a wet nurse. The Dominus allowed me to sleep in the slaves quarters in the villa, so that I might stay closer to him, but to also assure himself that I would not become with child again. His gladiators faced severe punishment if they tried to force themselves upon me. I trained, and soon found myself in the arena. I prevailed in every game, to provide for my son."

Ada finished, and the three of them remained silent for a moment. Nasir eventually spoke, "You are a strong woman, few could survive what you have."

She smiled at Nasir, gratitude in her eyes. "You have not told me of how you came to be in these lands," she said to Agron . He cast his eyes down and looked at his hands. "Mine is of a similar tale, happening four years after you were taken. The Romans ambushed us, and destroyed the village. They took Duro and I captive." Agron saw the hope that gleamed in Ada's eyes, and it was like a knife to the chest. "We were sold to the House of Batiatus, and earned the mark of the brotherhood together. When we turned swords against the Romans, he fought bravely and with honor. He sacrificed his life to save mine, taking the sword that was ment for my back, into his chest."

Ada felt the sting of tears in her eyes, but she could not brush them away. Dead. Duro was dead. Never again would she see him laugh, never hold his son in his arms, never be a father. She looked up and saw tears in Agrons eyes to.

Just then Duro walked over. "Mama, why do you cry?" She wiped away her tears. How could she tell her son, who she had told stories of his father for years, that he was dead? She opened her mouth to speak, but Agron's voice sounded out instead.

"Someone near and dear to her heart has passed from this world to the next. The man she had hoped you would one day call father."

Duro nodded, and threw his arms around his mother. "It will be alright Mama. You will see him in the next world, and there will call him father."

At that Ada laughed and drew the boy close to her. "That we will."

That night the four of them sat around the fire, enjoying the meal. Duro was sitting in Nasir's lap, laughing as Agron told him the story of how they had burned down the arena in Capua. Ada could only smile as she watched them. Duro had been glad to learn that Agron was his uncle, and had extended that title to Nasir as well. The boy had plied them with questions the entire day, only stopping when the evening meal had been prepared. Grief had made Ada silent for most of the day, so she was glad that Duro had Agron and Nasir for company.

Agron finished his story and Duro demanded another one. Nasir grinned at the boy, "Don't you think you have had enough for the day? What shall we tell you tomorrow, if we tell all tonight?"

Duro stubbornly shook his head, shaking his dark hair. "I want to hear more now, though."

Ada smiled, remembering how stubborn Duro had been when they had played together as children, always demanding more, never being able to wait till the next sunrise. "You heard your uncles, Duro" she said with a small laugh, "They will tell you more tomorrow, now it is time for you to sleep." Duro pouted, but did not voice complaint again. He crawled out of Nasir's lap, and Agron picked him up and set him on his hip. Ada could easily see how much Duro ment to Agron. He had believed his brother gone from this world, with nothing left to remember him by. Seeing his brothers son had healed his heart, of his brother's death.

They all made to move further into the temple, where their sleeping quarters were, when Duro's voice sounded out. "We are a family, are we not?" he asked simply. That question startled all three of them, for a second. They had all felt as one, but the boy still needed to be sure.

Ada smile gently, "Of course we are a family."

"Now", started Nasir, "and forever" finished Agron. Duro smiled, and quickly fell asleep in Agrons arms.


End file.
